Garmin Zumo 660 - 4.4 in. GPS Receiver

I tend to write long, detailed reviews of navigators and other items.  This time - at least as a first go, I will not. (OK, it isn't quite as short as I'd intended).  It will be edited and added to as time goes on

These little dated updates are almost becoming mini-reviews in and of themselves!  I wonder if I shouldn't stick these edits at the END?


Edit: June 1, 2010

Finally!  With the release of the Zumo 665, owners of the 660 have been wondering when they'd be getting their long delayed and promised update.  The answer came last week when Garmin released version 3.80 of the firmware for the Zumo 660. 

As predicted, the release incorporates the GUI enhancements that the Zumo 665 implemented - personally, I believe that this represents enough of a change that the numbering ought to have been taken to 4.00, but lots of what goes on at Garmin mystifies me.

So, what changed?

Officially:

Changes from version 3.50 to version 3.80:
* Corrected a possible freeze while playing MP3s while paired to a helmet and a phone
* Corrected to allowed routes to be imported from matching maps on MapSource without recalculation
* Corrected an issue that could cause a failure to transfer phonebooks from a Bluetooth connected phone with phonebook transfer support
* Corrected missing keys on Turkish keyboard
* Corrected an issue that could cause the unit to freeze when connected to a BMW mount and using the page key

All very well, but the reality is that the route recalculation thing has been with us since day one and even still persists.  Maybe one day.

Then there's the stuff they 'forgot' to mention:


Display settings:

Garmin has included the updated GUI that is implemented in the Zumo 6655, for the 660 as had been intimated when the 665 was announced;  

So, first of all Garmin now offers three different variants of the map view; 

- Standard, which is the familiar, conventional view with two configurable data fields on the lower extremities of the screen and the menu button between them at the bottom; 
- A 'more data' view which puts four boxes of user definable data stacked vertically on the right side of the screen, with the map now a square box on the left;
- A 'More map' view that has three user-definable data filelds as transparent boxes in the corners (the menu key is in the lower left corner) and eliminates the banner box (the green box of text that stretches across the top of the screen) completely.   Lane assist and Junction View do not work in this mode, which makes it a non-starter for me.

Each has it's advantages and each it's disadvantages;  I suppose it is like Goldilocks;  One will have too much, another too little and the third will be 'just right';  For my money, I have been riding for the past few days with my map set to display 'more data' after playing with the settings over a few hundred miles of riding.

The second display change is that Garmin now leaves the icon for the MP3/Audible player (plus XM on the 665) on the screen full time rather than only when the player is in use.  I guess that's not so terrible for those of us who use the feature, but I have been hearing rumblings from people who do not have any media on board who resent the loss of screen real-estate.  edit:  Turns out that if you delete all of your media files including the demo files that Garmin includes with the unit, the icon DOES disappear.  Way to go Garmin for telling us how to use our units . . . NOT.  Why do we keep having to figure this stuff out for ourselves?

There is precious little remaining real estate when running in the 'more data' display mode that I can appreciate where the complaints are coming from.

I suggest that it wouldn't be hard for Garmin to detect whether there are any media files on board and to selectively enable the icon, based on the presence of this type of file - or it could be a menu item;  One could select whether the icon it always active or is only displayed when the MP3 player is running.

Third is that Garmin will now display the current media information (song title and such) in the aforementioned banner box - but ONLY if you are not navigating.  The data can be cycled between the 'current street' and 'song information' by tapping the banner box.  Note that if the information is too long for the banner box it will be truncated - IMO it should scroll if it is too long.

As to why they don't display song titles while navigating?  I have no idea - they DO allow toggling between the current street and the route details while navigating.  Nothing prevents them from adding the song title to the list of items being toggled through.

There is now a lot more street detail text and waypoint text displayed on screen in the 'better' mode (which is the most detail that Garmin allows one to select).  Again, in the 'more data'  display mode in particular it is just too much - my original SP3 allowed a huge amount of configurability on this score;  Reducing the number of selections of preconfigured display parameters to just three is too limiting.

And, for those who know how upset I am that Garmin removed the 'upcoming cross street names' from the banner box, the answer is that it STILL isn't there;  

Even my 16 year old daughter was complaining the other day when she had to go somewhere, had directions but couldn't figure out how to spell the destination street name to get the navigator to guide her;  She missed a number of turns because I'd left the Zumo in the car instead of the old Nuvi 760 and she couldn't tell when to turn withtout squinting at street signs.

If I recall correctly, the exact comment was; "Would it be so hard for them to do it right?".

Would it?


My other pet peeve, that the newer navigators simply don't display enough street detail when zoomed beyond 500 meters also persists;  When driving or riding on suburban or rural roads there just isn't enough map detail on screen - especially with the new, smaller 'more data' view.  WE NEED MORE STREET DETAIL to zoom levels of 1200 meters at least - the old '5 level' map detail settings would be a good start.


Other changes

We now get to see the map scale without having to switch to the browse map - a serious positive change.

There is now apparently proper support for offroad operation;  But I don't go offroad and won't presume to appreciate whether it works as required for the dirt riders among us.


Well, with the good comes the bad;

There are presently a lot of complaints about spontaneous shutdowns; 

A navigator should NEVER shut down unless the user requests it or power is lost;  Sure, we all know that there are bugs in code, but there are ways to handle them that are less intrusive than quietly shutting off - and this is a complaint I've had since the original firmware release of the Zumo 660, but from my observation of the comments, it has become a major problem - for my part, my unit switched off twice since upgrading;  there are those who have it shut off every few minutes - apparently for some, when there is a loss of satellite reception which can happen often.

Some of the problems seem to stem from MP3 issues;  If the unit has an 'exception', how hard would it be for the exception handler to to write the name of the offending file to a log, deselect the file in question and then reboot the navigator if necessary?

The same complaint applies to the Bluetooth (cellphone side) implementation;  If the phone's contacts cause the unit to crash (as it does when I try to use my Nokia N-95 with the 660) why not simply set a flag to disable the use of contacts with that phone AND show a message on rebooting that they are disabled - and then provide a procedure to re-enable them (probably by deleting a file from memory)?

This leads to the more obvious;  Why can't they display incoming SMS messages on screen?  Tomtom does. 

My rhetorical question of the moment;  Why does the Bluetooth implementation on my old Nuvi 760 (and on my old Zumo 550) work so much better than it does on the newer navigators?  Why does Garmin keep trying to blame the phones?

This alone is reason enough to go out and scour the market for previous generation (Nuvi XX0 series) navigators - doesn't hurt that these older navigators are priced at almost giveaway levels and they don't display advertising if you have a lifetime traffic receiver.  Their software is clean enough that they don't spontaneously shut down, either.

So, has Garmin 'hit the mark' with this product yet after 16 months on the market?

Well, we are seeing lots of 'feature creep', but little progress in dealing with the major issues in the product - too many bugs.  Too much trouble with features. 

IMO iit is a great idea that the Zumo 665 and 660 share a code set;  However I don't know why there is a difference between the models, per se. 

Simply include the XM receiver in the 665 box and allow users to purchase the XM as a somewhat more expensive option for their 660s . . . given a $200 MSRP difference between the 665 and 660 and a $240 price for the XM 'pod', that might be incentive enough for people to purchase a 665, yet would provide an upgrade path for 660 owners.  Someone at Garmin was asleep at the conference table when that decision was being made. 

The two are supposed to share peripherals (note that they do not, so if you have a 660 installed and want to upgrade to a 665 you will need to replace your cradles - and that means uninstalling that umbilical cord from your bike).  665 accessories ARE back-compatible with the 660 and future 660s are supposed to ship with 665 accessories . . . I still think that the umbilical should have been disconnectible.

So, while it continues to evolve and gets cuter and more bloated as time goes on, in my opinion there are still better options out there - though the Zumo 220 (which will be the subject of a future review) is not among them.


The Zumo 660 (and the 665); still rated as 'fail' as far as I'm concerned.



Edit: May 14, 2010

Well, by now you'd have expected that the long-awaited 'firmware that fixes all' would have been released, but alas, in spite of promises from various Garmin telephone drones it is nowhere to be found.

Perhaps this is due to the release of the equally buggy Zumo 665.  I gather that the new plan is to port the new GUI used in the 665 back to the 660.

Great, we will probably get a whole new set of bugs to deal with.

Edit: December 20, 2009

Well, it's been a while since I last updated this review and in the intermin Garmin has released, not one, but TWO firmware updates.  Unfortunately, nothing truly significant seems to have come from them, but here goes, anyway:


December 4, 2009 version 3.50 changelog:

Added TracBack
Added autozoom toggle setting
Added off setting for proximity alerts
Added dynamic range compression for louder voice guidance
Connect the headset before the phone on startup
Draw Arabic map labels in the correct direction
Fixed several route import issues
Fixed calculator percentage function
Fixed selection of Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese text
Fixed some Bluetooth pairing issues
Fixed map pattern drawing
Fixed editing of the current route


August 24, 2009, version 3.30 changelog:

Added MSN Direct v3 support
Added reverse route functionality
Added South African traffic support
Fixed several issues with the trip log
Fixed issue with route recalculation
Fixed incorrect turn angle seen in some roundabouts
Fixed import of favoritesFixed issue when importing GPX routes
Display city names on the main map
Prevent accidental stop of route while holding the Back button
Added support for enhanced audio Audible books
Fixed navigation prompt playback for some helmets/headsets when A2DP is streaming
Fixed an issue that could cause problems with MapSource or WebUpdater


All well and good, I suppose, except that Microsoft has announced end-of-life for their MSN DIrect service (it terminates Jan 1, 2012). 

In my area at least the MSN Traffic solution has been spotty at best . . . until about mid November when I started getting good reports.  So I decided to purchase the lifetime subscription, whch had recently dropped in price to $99 from the original $129.  Unfortunately, they withdrew the product, which is how I discovered that MSN Direct is on the road to being history.

Having said that, MSN Direct was neat in that it provided weather maps and flight arrival & departure information;  Since my MSN DIrect subscription  was just about to expire, I did not renew, but instead bought a lifetime traffic receiver and it seems that it is the same traffic that I was getting from MSN - but without any of the add-ons. 

I'm going to miss gas prices, stock quotes and weather information (the last one more than the rest).

As well, Bluetooth issues continue to dog the unit and route recalculation issues and issues with external audio devices remain unresolved.  Units are reportedly still shutting off spontaneously and Garmin remains steadfast in it's refusal to provide any form of coherent tech support for the device.

Because I use a 'non-supported' phone, they initially refused to help me.  When I pointed out that the phone works with my Nuvi 760 and my Zumo 550 they did backtrack slightly and invited me to contact them (I suppose the first 10 times weren't enough), but they reiterated that my phone is not 'compatible'.

I keep reminding them that is IS compatible with the previous Zumo and my Nuvi, so there's simply no excuse for them to evade resolving the problems we as a group are experiencing - I will follow through again next week.

So again, while some minor corrections have been delivered, the device is far from being clean.

I still counsel the reader to consider other products before plunking down his hard-earned money for a Zumo 660,

Maybe one day . . . .


Edit: July 25, 2009

Garmin has released yet another update for the Zumo 660 (V3.20) which I have dutifully downloaded and installed.  The changelog for version 3.2 states the following:

Changes made from version 3.10 to 3.20:

Fixed incompatible audio version when using the Croatian voice.
Fixed issue with WebUpdater that caused older voices to be downloaded.

Now, there is a LOT wrong with this unit that the 10 or 20 Croatian users could have waited for THEIR fixes so that the rest of the world could get theirs.

Besides, after running the update the webupdater STILL tells me that there are a whole lot of language files to be updated.

In 3.10 there were some fixes included (undocumented, of course), which begs the question; why bother with a changelog if you aren't going to tell people what you've done?

This time around, it seems that there were no 'extras'.


I just got back from an extensive (5,000 mile) road trip where I had the opportunity to REALLY put my unit to the test.  I went though both urban and rural areas, followed preplanned routes in some cases and, of course used Red Light Camera custom POI files and the database of provided POIs to locate hotels, gas stations and restaurants.

The preplanned routes worked well, though I for one would like to be able to have a feature that allows me to choose whether to display and/or announce via points or not.  But that is simply a personal preference

The custom POI database of red light and speed cameras I downloaded seemed to work well - in Columbus Ohio they seem to have a lot of RLCs - and the unit warned me for each.

The internal POI database is another issue;  Many points I looked for were either simply not there or were closed;  Closed I can understand, because these are difficult times and businesses have been closing down;  But in MANY smaller towns there were HUGE registration errors - the mapping had locations of everything as much as a mile from where the point really was;

The map detail issues and lack of cross street updates and city names WERE issues that ABSOLUTELY require fixing.

Many smaller towns' street details were simply wrong;  Whether there were missing streets (or streets shown that aren't there) or where street directions were wrong, I did spend quite a bit of time in some towns just getting to where I was going.

This was NOT a function of the Zumo, but rather a comment on mapping.

I also suffered through several cases where the unit simply locked up (as in quietly decided to no longer update the maps, announce any turns or respond to my inputs).  I had to get off the highway, remove the battery and restart the unit.

There were also several times where the unit simply shut off without notice - in those cases simply pressing the power button to turn it back on was sufficient to return the unit to operation.

The external microphone input on the bike cradle of my unit does not work with my Autocom.  The general cencensus is that there is a batch of bad brackets - wonderful - now I have to remove my tank to replace the bracket and my original complaint that the umbilical was going to be an issue seems to have come true.  I can only hope that Garmin will send me the replacement bracket beforehand, so I don't have to be without and so I don't have to do it twice.

Lastly, in riding through uncovered territory, the unit became 'confused' about where it was on several occasions, having me off the road (where there was only one road to be on) and issuing multiple 'recalculating' announcements - was it a mapping issue?  Was it a GPS issue?  I DO know that on last years' trip, which covered some of the same roads where I was having trouble with the 660, my Zumo 550 had no such issues, which leads me to believe that it is a GPS issue, rather than one related to the underlying database.

Rumors (because that is all they are) are that Garmin is readying a large update to resolve many of the problems reported.  Until those issues ARE resolved, my rating stands . . . . stay away for now.

I, FOR ONE DO NOT APPRECIATE BEING GARMIN'S BETA TESTER.  BETA TESTERS USUALLY GET COMPENSATED OR GET THEIR UNITS FOR FREE. 



Edit: June 30, 2009

Well, Garmin messed up badly by using a Chinese low end GPS chipset instead of the SIRF-III they used to use and when the GPS time calculation changes kicked in on June 21, the Zumo 660, along with the 8X5, 7X5 and 2X5 series units started to brick up like a construction site.

Garmin has released a firmware upgrade (3.10) to replace the 2.80 bug-ridden pile of dung.  But it is a very limited upgrade.

3.10 does address a couple of problems, such as the inability to access the browse map while in the motorcycle cradle and in motion and some of the route recalculation issues, but the Bluetooth is still pretty messed up and the user interface and screen detail still suck the hind tit.

Get your act together Garmin!!!



Edit June 14, 2009

In my opinion the first comment to this review called for a fairly detailed reply;  Rather than put the list of all of the current bugs into this review, they are posted in the reply.  You can see the comments by clicking the following link:  http://www.epinions.com/review/Garmin_zumo_660_GPS_Receiver/content_473572675204/show_~allcom

Back to the original review:



THE REVIEW

Why is my review summarised the way it is??

Because this navigator should have been held back by Garmin until they got it right.  Anyone that disagrees with my assesment likely is not a long distance rider and/or has limited experience with navigators in general.  This is not to say that it doesn't work at all, but rather that it doesn't do what I, for one paid a huge premium to have it do beyond that of it's basic navigation, communications and entertainment functions.

Garmin started with a reasonable premise;  The Zumo 550, a waterproof, motorcycle friendly navigator needed a widescreen cousin to capitalise on the present market trend to widescreen, and advanced (such as that term means) features like those in navigators such as the newer Nuvi series devices ending in '5', such as the 265WT, 765, 885 and so on.

And I agree,

However Garmin has done no one a favor by dumbing down and decontenting the Zumo 660 to the point of being almost useless for the touring motorcyclist and then, to add insult to injury, released it as a heavily buggy, fitful device in which certain features are missing that THIS author would prefer to see incorporated (if for no other reason than that they are part of the predecessor device, the Zumo 550).

OK, let's start with the basics;

It is a navigator.  Do I have to explain what they do?  Yes?  Then have a look at my original 'what a navigator is' type review here on epinions at http://tinyurl.com/276-review and my original Zumo 550 review, again on epinions, accessible here: http://tinyurl.com/Zumo-550-Review

Now for the 660:

It has been about 2 years since Garmin released the 550.  For the most part the 550 was a competent navigator, but it exemplified Garmin's ongoing propensity to strictly define the navigation experience by reducing the configuration and display choices available to the consumer.

Zumo 660 is a widescreen format 4.3 inch navigator that is portable, with built-in batteries and is waterproof.  The waterproofing makes the unit somewhat larger than other current generation devices - and it is much thicker than Garmin's newest 1200/1300/1400 series devices.

Since my unit is not often carried while hiking, the size doesn't bother me at all.

There is a single physical button on the device, the power and quick-access button for brightness and volume - press and hold to turn the unit off.  Tap it to bring up the menu to adjust brightness and volume.

Unlike the Zumo 550, there is no 'backout' button.  This was a physical button on the bezel of the 550 to back up through whatever menus or other data may be on screen to bring the user back quickly to the map display.  On the Zumo 660 you might have to press several different touch-buttons on the screen to bring up the map - this is a step backward in my opinion.

Garmin has provided more soft features in this new device, such as 'lane assist'.  But has not provided the somewhat useful 'Garmin Locate'. (edit: under version 3.10, one of the undocumented features added to the device was 'Garmin Locate'.  It would have been nice had Garmin mentioned this in the release's changelog.)

Unfortunately we still can't use MSN Direct on our motorcycles.  However we can use the MSN Direct adapter in our cars.

MSN Direct (like the regular TNC traffic services) are carried by FM broadcasters as something called 'SCA Data', signals piggybacked on the audio transmission.  When you are out of range of an equipped broadcaster there is no way for the traffic and weather and data to be received.  XM offers a satellite variant of the services, but Zumo 660 does not support XM.

Like it's cousin the Zumo 550, the 660 comes with both car and motorcycle mounts that are complete with all brackets and cables necessary to mount the device in a vehicle and to the bike's handlebars.

Garmin's biggest change with the bike mount is that rather than providing a detachable power cord and jacks on the bike mount they have integrated the cabling and put the audio and power connections at the end of a 3 foot umbilical.

On my bike (a Yamaha FJR1300) I opted to mount the unit on the center bolt using a drilled and tapped stem nut with a RAM ball affixed.  Cost for the RAM Ball and 'stem nut' were less than $30.  Garmin's included gear has the unit mounted near the left or right grips and I really prefer the centered mount - the screen is available at a glance.

Mounted where mine is, the cabling is just long enough to reach under the tank to the tool tray under my seat.  Had I installed the unit on the standard clutch bracket it would not have been long enough.

However included in the cabling is a faux USB connection that one can presently use with Garmin's newer traffic receiver (but NOT for MSN Direct nor for the XM radio feature Garmin offered with the Zumo 550).  Doesn't much matter, because THAT connection is for some reason shorter than the ones for the stereo output, microphone input and fused power connection.  Being shorter means that it is difficult to access the connection if you run your cabling under the fuel tank like I did.

Further, the faux USB connection (Faux, because it LOOKS like a USB connector, but supports nothing but the traffic receiver) is sensitive to moisture - the navigator reports that there are unsupported devices plugged into the connection if the connector gets wet.  My USB connection is now wrapped in a plastic bag.

Perhaps the cabling should have been six inches or a foot longer.

More insidious is that Garmin has done away with the security screw that fastened the Zumo 450 & 550 to the mount.  The rider now must remove his navigator when he parks his bike.  It wouldn't have been hard to supply a security screw that blocks operation of the somewhat awkward release lever, but they did not.

And I for one would have expected that since they are forcing me to remove the unit from my bike, that they would have included the 'Garmin Locate' feature that temporarily marks the location of the vehicle when the unit is pulled from its mount.  The temporary waypoint can then be used to navigate through a parking lot to get back to the machine - what would that have cost Garmin?  Probably nothing except for the brownie points for having left it off.  (edit: as mentioned above, under version 3.10, one of the undocumented features added to the device was 'Garmin Locate'.)

As a car unit, Zumo 660 is delivered with Garmin's traditional suction mount and a basic power cord.  One can purchase and plug in Garmin's standard traffic receiver or MSN Direct receiver to the base. Be advised that this navigator does not support MSN Direct's enhanced feature set.  You get the same things that you got with the Nuvi 680, but not the flight arrival or other extended information that the second generation receivers appear to deliver.  Note: with the release of Version 3.30 the enhanced MSN Direct services is now supported - lot of good that does, since MSN has announced end-of life for the service.

For entertainment Zumo 660 supports MP3 music and will play Audible formatted material.  The latter is perfect for improving one's social skills while riding the twisties.  The player will stop for navigation announcements and the music (or book) will (usually) restart when the announcement concludes.  It all works well enough except for the fact that the onscreen access button is covered when the navigator's fuel warning system decides you need to fill up, in which case the icon is hidden under that of the fuel gauge. 

To store music in any significant quantity requires that the user purchase and install a separate microSD card.  The card is installed in the battery compartment.  Be warned that not all of these cards are the same.  The first card I tried (from Patriot) did not work in the Zumo.

With a stated maximum capacity of 8 gigs, there are reportedly users with 16 gig cards installed that work well.  At this time of this writing, an A-Data 8 Gig card with regular SD adapter costs about $20 in the retail channel - not a serious hardship, but to be fair, Garmin could have included one with the unit and increased the MSRP slightly - at these premium prices we expect premium product.  Note: Buried somewhere on Garmin's web site is a note that states that there is no limit to the size of the card that the device supports.  Also be aware that Zumo is fairly picky about which cards work in the unit.

On the car version of the quick release bracket there is an external microphone input - I have an external mic in my car.  There is, however no external stereo output.  There IS one on the navigator itself, but if you want to use the MP3 player and if your car is not equipped with Stereo Bluetooth (and none that I know of are) then you will need to plug a 3.5 mm cable into the side of the Zumo itself, which obviates the entire quick release mount.  I suppose Garmin might have included an FM transmitter like they did on the Nuvi 7XX series, but alas, they have not.  Note that afficionados in the field have worked out a way to install a jack to the Nuvi base, perhaps the same can be done with the one for the Zumo?

Zumo 660 now supports A2DP Bluetooth for wireless stereo connections to the vehicle.  Unfortunately there aren't any vehicles that I know of that presently support stereo Bluetooth, though there are several motorcycle helmets and hardware adapaters that do - however those helmets have insufficient battery life to run for a whole day of operation.

All this Bluetooth hype is pretty much a waste considering that Garmin recently changed chipset providers, moving from Parrot to Motorola.

Unfortunately in doing so they've pretty much broken the Bluetooth very badly.

I own three Bluetooth phones.  All of them worked flawlessly on the Zumo 550 (and the various Bluetooth Nuvis I own and owned).  But NONE of them works worth a darn with the Zumo 660.

I can't get them to pair reliably.  The Zumo 660 crashes (by shutting off) when my Nokia N95-4 sends more than about 200 contacts to the navigator.  Connections to my Palm phone are simply impossible and so on - but all of this worked (and continues to work) with the Parrot equipped navigators.

When I called Garmin I was told that the problem is my phone. 

Really?  Then why does it work with my other Garmin navigators?

I am also told that Garmin does not support delivery of SMS messages to the screen. 

Why not?  TomTom does.

There are issues with the display software;

Zumo 660 will often go into a delay mode while drawing a screen.  It will paint about a quarter of the screen, then pause, sometimes for 30 seconds or more and then continue drawing as if nothing has happened; However Zumo 660 is also equipped with the extremely annoying 'Autozoom'.  When it goes into the 'delay painting mode' while attempting to guide you through a complex intersection it never does fully draw the exit and this can be VERY dangerous. 

I've had it happen to me several times and it is very disconcerting to depend on the navigator for specific directions on where to go and have it painting gibberish and incomplete depictions.

Having said that, Garmin has included the very sexy 'Junction View' into this navigator that puts up an almost photographic depiction of an upcoming exit to help the driver/rider prepare for ther manoeuver - it works well, displaying a pretty representative image of an exit or turn-off to help you get organised to take that exiit - Junction View only functions on limited access highways and only for complex intersections, so it's presence appears to be somewhat random to the rider.

More important is that ALL of my older navigators (starting with the old SP3 and all the way to my Nuvi 780) would display the name of each upcoming cross street on the information bar at the top of the screen.  This is more than extremely useful to help a user drive when just 'using' the navigator to get somewhere, because one often wants to know where to turn without going to the hassle of entering an address and following the directions - you KNOW you have to turn left on Elm, and it is nice to know when you get to that street to make the turn.

For some reason they don't do this on the 660 except on limited access highways.  The unit continually displays the name of the road on which I am driving, but NOT the names of the cross streets.  Since I supposedly know what street I'm driving on, why bother?  I DO need to know the name of the upcoming streets so I can prepare to turn.  At prtesent, the only way to see the names of upcoming roads is to zoom in fully - and even so, I have encountered numerous instances where those names are missing.

As a safety measure, having  the street name in a fixed location and not having to change zoom factors to see what's coming up is much safer - not to mention that it isn't absolutely clear whether the street shown on the map is the one you are passing or whether it is the one coming up next - there is no ambiguity with the text display in the banner box.

The absence of the information is of no significant concern while actively navigating to a destination because the navigator will tell you when to turn and where to go, but at all other times it is absolutely necessary.

A navigator is supposed to replace paper maps.  And on a motorcycle, to refer to one's map one used to have to stop the bike and check things out.  However up to now electronic navigators have provided the ability to 'see' the upcoming road details (how they twist and turn) on the fly.  Not so with the Zumo 660.

Garmin has seen fit to reduce the map detail to below the level of useless.  The screen cannot cannot display secondary roads any father away than about 3 miles without panning the map manually, which is very cumbersome.  As a rider, I want to be able to explore.  To do that I want to be able to see just 'how squiggly' an upcoming road might be and where it goes (is it a dead end?) - so I know if it is filled with twists and turns and is worth exploring.  

Of interest is that when I'm on a secondary road and the zoom is set to greater than 500 meters, it displays NO secondary roads, not even the one I am are riding on!!! My Nuvi 760, which has a screen with the same resolution and a less capable processor provides details at 1/4 times the zoom level (16 times the on-screen data) when the display detail is set to 'most', so why not Zumo 660?

There is a feature called the 'browse map' that allows the user to pan around the high zoom maps and look around.  It is essentially Garmin's intended solution for the missing map detail.  You can use the browse map when the bike is stopped or when the car is rolling;  But you cannot when the bike is moving. And that's when you need that map because you can't see the upcoming roads.  The community has found a multi-button-press work-around to this issue.  As a group we're unsure whether it is a 'feature' or a 'bug'. Garmin has said nothing. (edit: The map browse issue has been quietly 'fixed' in the 3.10 firmware release - undocumented, of course.  Note that the browse map has the same map detail display abilities as the main map.)

At the present time there is a very large list of bugs and missing features that is being compiled maintained by the Zumo community and those of us early adopters have been keeping Garmin informed with our observations by contacting the company in writing and by phone - but the reactions we've been receiving so far have, as mentioned not been encouraging.

Issues relate to such things as a limited number of routes;  Bugs in the proximity POI functionality; The inability to do off-device routing; Strange routing and lots more - all of this will be expanded on in a future edit.

Come on Garmin, get your act together.

As with all complex  devices, I didn't expect perfection on day one - however Garmin seems to have almost gone out of it's way to deliver a decontented and buggy device.  Calls to Garmin support are met with wrong information, unsympathetic acknowledgements and such.

The reality is simply that the Zumo 660 is NOT the right navigator for me in it's present form.  I am seriously considering returning mine and buying another Zumo 550, though the 276c and it's sister units remain extremely attractive as viable alternatives and have that absolutely amazing graphic display.

However the biggest issues relate to the half-baked firmware and what appears to be arbitrary function definitions which absolutely detract from the experience.

At $800 this is a premium navigator.  As an end user and for my money I expect a premium feature set that fulfills the specific needs of this specialised market and Garmin has NOT delivered.

Note: Garmin recently announced two new Zumo models, the 220 and the 665.  The 220 is a rejigged Nuvi 550 and the 665 is essentially a Zumo 660 with XM support.  At the time of this edit neither has been delivered to end users, so we'll have to wait and see how they perform.


Garmin Zumo 660 specifications:

Physical & Performance:
Unit dimensions, WxHxD: 5.3"W x 3.3"H x .9"D (13.5 x 8.4 x 2.3 cm) Display size, WxH: 3.81"W x 2.25"H (9.7 x 5.7 cm); 4.3" diag (10.9 cm)
Display resolution, WxH: 480 x 272 pixels
Display type: WQVGA color TFT with white backlight
Weight: 9.5 ounces (270 g)
Battery: removable, rechargeable lithium-ion Battery life: up to 5 hours
Waterproof: yes (IPX7) High-sensitivity receiver: yes
RoHS version available: yes

Maps & Memory:
Basemap: yes
Preloaded maps: yes
Ability to add maps: yes
Built-in memory: internal solid state
Accepts data cards: microSD™ card (not included) Waypoints/favorites/locations: 1000 Routes: 20 (additional storage on microSD™ card)

Features:
Voice prompts (e.g. "Turn right in 500 ft."): yes (internal speaker)
Speaks street names (e.g. "Turn right ON ELM STREET in 500 ft."): yes
Voice-activated navigation (operate device with spoken commands): no
Lane assist (guides you to the proper lane for navigation): yes (with junction view)
3-D building view (displays buildings in 3-D): yes
Auto sort multiple destinations (provides most direct route): yes
Auto re-route (fast off-route and detour recalculation): yes
Choice of route setup (faster time, shorter distance, off road): yes
Route avoidance (avoid highways, tolls etc.): yes
Bluetooth® wireless technology (connect to your phone for hands-free calling): yes (with A2DP technology)
MSN® Direct compatible: yes
FM traffic compatible: yes
XM® Navtraffic & Radio for U.S. compatible: no
Speed limit indicator (displays speed limit for most major roads): yes
Where Am I? (find closest hospitals, police & gas stations, nearest address & intersection): yes
Garmin Locate™ (marks position when removed from windshield mount): no
ecoRoute™ (calculates a more fuel-efficient route) : no
Qwerty or ABC keyboard (choose keyboard layout): yes
Custom POIs (ability to add additional points of interest): yes
Garmin Garage™ vehicles compatible (download car-shaped icons to your device): yes
Garmin Garage™ voices compatible (download custom voices to your device): yes
Photo navigation (navigate to geotagged photos): yes
World travel clock, currency & unit converter, calculator: yes
Picture viewer: yes
MP3 player: yes
Audio book player: yes
FM transmitter: no
Headphone jack/audio line-out: yes
Remote control: no
Garmin Lock™ (anti-theft feature): yes
Touchscreen: yes
Dead reckoning: no
Motorcycle-friendly: yes
Trucking-friendly: no
Geocaching-friendly: no
Marine-friendly: no

Additional: This USBmass storage device is compatible with Windows® 2000 or later and Mac® OS X 10.4 or later.